Client Story: Going for Gold! Supporting a young Paralympian in his journey to national competition

The Challenge

James is 20 years old and sustained a brain injury at the age of 12. He has made a strong physical recovery, but the injury left him with a permanent loss of vision in the lower visual fields of both eyes — something James describes simply as everything below a certain point just being black.

To the untrained eye, James would not stand out as someone living with any physical difficulty. He trains at a high level, following a comprehensive programme of strength, mobility and conditioning designed by his coach, supplemented by boxing training, walking and cycling as cross-training. But his coach had identified a persistent problem: James was not achieving the optimal gait pattern for sprinting. Specifically, he was not lifting his knees high enough, and his balance and coordination were affecting his performance.

James is currently pursuing classification within the Paralympic system for track and field events — sprinting, shot put and long jump — and trains at the English Institute of Sport facility in Sheffield under an English Athletics coach. His goal is clear, to compete at national level and earn selection for the GB Paralympic team.

His Case Manager at Bush & Company referred James to SP Therapy Services for a specialist neurological physiotherapy assessment, to understand what was driving these movement difficulties and how they could be addressed.

Our Approach

At SP Therapy Services, we believe the key to making a real difference is the therapeutic relationship — and that starts with finding the right therapist for each individual client. Our referrals and enquiries are always triaged by an experienced member of our physiotherapy team, who takes time to understand not just the clinical picture, but the person and their goals.

When Jayne Hallford spoke with James’s Case Manager, it quickly became clear that she was an exceptional match. Jayne is a highly experienced neurological physiotherapist — and she is also a runner and a qualified running coach. This combination of clinical expertise and lived understanding of running mechanics made her ideally placed to work with James at the level his ambitions require.

This is what we look for at SP Therapy Services: Physiotherapists who bring something extra to the table. The right clinical specialism matters enormously. But so does the ability to connect with a client’s world.

Assessment Findings

Jayne began by speaking directly with James’s coach to understand his observations and ensure her assessment was targeted and complementary to the existing programme. Her detailed neurological physiotherapy assessment identified four key clinical findings that together explained why James was not achieving the gait pattern his performance demands:

• Increased muscle tone (spasticity) in both calf muscles. Normally the calf acts like a spring, absorbing impact and recoiling for propulsion. Spasticity prevents this natural cycle, producing a stiff, inefficient gait that requires significantly more energy from the runner.
• Poor recruitment and sustainability of the deep core muscles and hip and pelvic stabilisers, making it difficult for James to maintain a stable trunk and stand on one leg — both fundamental to effective running.
• Reduced force generation from the glutes and hamstrings, meaning effort is not efficiently converted into forward momentum.
• Muscle imbalance presenting as a turned-in right foot during running, caused by overactivation of the tibialis anterior muscle.

These findings explained not only James’s difficulties in sprinting, but also had direct implications for his other events:

• In shot put, the lack of core stability and force generation would disrupt the smooth rotational form the event requires.
• In long jump, the same issues would affect the quality of the run-up and reduce the ability to translate speed into distance.

The Plan

Jayne has submitted a detailed treatment plan to James’s Case Manager and will now work alongside his coach to address these clinical findings. The programme is designed to be bespoke to James’s neurological profile and fully complementary to his existing training — not a substitute for it, but a specialist layer that gives him the best possible chance of reaching his goals.

The focus will be on reducing the impact of his spasticity, improving core and pelvic stability, developing more effective force generation, and correcting the movement patterns that are currently limiting his performance across all three events.

James has already shown extraordinary determination — sustaining a brain injury at 12 and reaching the level of an aspiring Paralympian is a remarkable achievement. With the right specialist support now in place, we are looking forward to following his progress and sharing updates as his journey continues. We are rooting for him.